Cody

city, seat (1909) of Park county, northwestern Wyoming, U.S. It lies along the Shoshone River east of the Absaroka Range, at an elevation of 5,096 feet (1,553 metres). Laid out in 1895 and developed by Colonel William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody, who convinced the Burlington Railroad to extend a line to the new town, it is a popular tourist resort in an area of dude and working livestock ranches and farms irrigated by water from the Buffalo Bill Dam and Reservoir. Prime attractions are Cody's boyhood home (moved from LeClaire, Iowa), the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, and the Whitney Gallery of Western Art. Rodeos are held from mid-June through August, including a three-day Cody Stampede in early July. The city is headquarters of the Shoshone National Forest. Yellowstone National Park, to which Cody is the principal eastern gateway, is 55 miles (90 km) west. Inc. 1901. Pop. (1990) 7,897; (2000) 8,835.